Expanding Tide ~ Overview

Many had hoped that the war would end eventually, that over time gradually the strength of one side would give out and peace would be achieved by the blood of the fallen. They were wrong. Neither side would give way, and the head-to-head struggles between the different races only grew more intense. Battlefields shifted and countless more innocent lives were thrown into the bloody fray. Hatred like that which drives the forces of Destruction does not simply give up… it grows and consumes more and more.

v1.8.3

After Malekith’s Black Ark was forced to retreat from Caledor north into Tiranoc, his spite and determination to destroy the High Elves grew greatly. The High Elves had dared to defy his will and right, the forces of Order even had the audacity to field new armies against the forces of Destruction and check every advance made. While the forces of Destruction fielded their own hosts to counter those of Order, progress could not be made on any front. The war grew, yet it did not progress. More lands were caught up in bloody struggles, yet neither side was any closer to success. Something had to change.

Malekith, long credited as the architect of this great war in the Age of Reckoning, is always scheming for new ways to crush the Asur; however, many of his opponents will say behind his back that his mother Morathi is the true puppet master pulling everyone’s strings. It is unclear whose plan the most recent was, but the heavy taint of darkness behind it leads many to believe Morathi is the architect. A new struggle across three fronts is being waged, but not for the sake of strategic victory, another more sinister cause is being pursued.

In Ulthuan, the true target of Malekith’s ambitions, the Druchii have taken to a more sinister approach to war. Long have the western kingdoms struggled against the Druchii and become more hardened in their tactics. For all the brutality of the Druchii, the resolve of the Asur only matches it. But there have been two kingdoms who have for the centuries been largely unscathed by the Druchii, at least not since the first war amongst the elves. Cothique, which suffered the greatest atrocity in the first war when its entire population was sacrificed to Khaine, is now the target of a new invasion led by the beastmasters of Karond Kar. To the south, the eastern Outer Kingdom of Yvresse has never had to repel the Druchii from its soil, but is now dragged into the war to defend the its weaker neighbor to the north. An invasion of Cothique gains little for the Druchii in terms of strategic gains, a more foul plot is afoot. Nevertheless, the remaining two kingdoms of Ulthuan have been fully dragged into the war against the Druchii. This is truly an age where all of Ulthuan is awash in flames and blood.

In the World’s Edge Mountains of the Old World, something is goading the orcs to launch an attack against the industrial heart of Karak Ankor. The Bloody Sun Boyz have begun to appear sailing north across the great mountain lake of Black Water and landing at the shore near Cragmere, descending into its depths. The rangers who scout the mountains above do not dare venture into Cragmere, for they know what savagery lurks there, but they have already begun to send troubling reports back to Karaz-a-Karak. Cragmere is stirring to life, the war drums are beating night and day, and the Bloody Sun Boyz have begun to scour the mountaintops themselves making matters difficult for the rangers. To the east of Cragmere lays Zhufbar, the seat of the Engineer’s Guild, and in fact the industrial heart of Karak Ankor. While the Bloody Sun Boyz rally the tribes of Cragmere, the Oathbearers have arrived in Zhufbar and begun to drastically improve its defenses in preparation for the assault. Zhufbar’s forges cannot grow cold, Karak Ankor’s fate depends on them.

Lastly, in the heart of the battle between Order and Chaos lays the realm of men. The Empire and its recent new ally of Kislev fight among the bloodiest battles holding the forces of Tzeentch and Khorne at bay. With Khorne joining the battle on the side of Tzeentch, his forces have been tasked with holding down Kislev while the Raven Host tears into the Empire from a new eastern flank. The struggle, however, does not go well for the forces of Chaos. While they have shed more blood across more lands, they are as bogged down as the forces of the Empire and Kislev – neither faction can muster the force to break their opposition. But something cruel is in the works that Tchar’zanek and Malekith are sure will shatter the alliance of Order.

The forces of Chaos draw largely upon the populations of Norsca to fuel their armies, the Raven Host’s most recent gains of the Harbingers coming from the icy crags of the Jotunheim Mountains. Knowing this the forces of the Empire and Kislev have sent out a joint expedition into these foreign and hostile lands to strike at the heart of Chaos’s recruiting campaign. The forces of Chaos, however, have other goals in mind.

Malekith feels that if enough blood can be spilled, and enough suffering imposed upon the innocent, that the powers of Chaos can grow greatly, and the resolve of Kislev will be ruined. Kislev has thus far proven to be a stalwart ally who is very capable of repelling the bloodiest and most crazed of aggressors – the armies of Khorne. In this sense Kislev is the first line of defense for the Empire, no full scale assault on the north of the Empire can proceed so long as Kislev stands to bar the way, and the greatest defense Kislev has to offer the Empire is its gateway city of Erengrad. This grand port not only fuels the survival of all of Kislev economically, but it also acts to defend the northern frontier of the Empire. If Erengrad were only to fall, perhaps Kislev would withdraw from the war (or be crushed all the easier) and the forces of Chaos would have a clear path down the Sea of Claws coast into the Empire.

The war between Destruction and Order is expanding as the tide that sweeps across the coast. More and more lands are being drawn into the bloody fray, and little do they know that their sacrifices will fuel the next great tide of suffering.